Feature Focus: Why You Could Start Your Lessons with ThinkIts

Let’s talk about ThinkIts, and how they’re a great help for your students’ learning and to start your lessons off with.

Tell Me More… ThinkIts

ThinkIts are cross-curricular teacher-led tools designed to encourage critical thinking in the classroom. ThinkIts can be used as a lesson warm-up or to elicit students’ higher-order thinking skills.

Miss Casey, a teacher from Barking Abbey School, has shared how and why she uses ThinkIts at the start of a lesson: “ThinkIts are a great way of starting the lesson, so as soon as students walk into the room, they are being challenged. They also develop team-working skills as quite often I put the students into groups to solve the ThinkIt. The vast range on offer makes them very flexible too!”

Why Are ThinkIts Great to Use at the Start of a Lesson…

  • Encourages critical thinking: students are being challenged when they use ThinkIts to think for themselves on certain topics, which is great for mastery.
  • Great for teamwork: you can put them up on the whiteboard, or use the Print option (like Miss Casey does) to encourage students to work together and build skills.
  • Students are engaged: because your students have begun the lesson actively critically thinking after using a ThinkIt, they’ll feel engaged and ready to begin the lesson.

Where Can I Find ThinkIts?

EducationCity has ThinkIts throughout all the subjects on EducationCity so all you need to do is go to the Curriculum Map or click on a subject to find them – simple!

ThinkIts to Try…

Here are a few ThinkIts you can try with your students – but don’t forget about the whole range which is on EducationCity.

Key Stage 1

English

Capital Words – Think of words that always start with a capital letter.

  • England: Year 1
  • Scotland: Early ***
  • Wales: Year 1
  • N. Ireland: P2

Maths

Recognising Coins – Match the coins to the objects that they can buy.

  • England: Year 1
  • Scotland: Early ***
  • Wales: Year 1
  • N. Ireland: P2

Science

Garden Animals – What animals do you think Manu could find in the garden?

  • England: Year 2
  • Scotland: First *
  • Wales: Year 2
  • N. Ireland: P3

Key Stage 2

English

Rhyming Verse: Row Your Boat – Create your own verses by looking at the words you need to rhyme.

  • England: Year 3
  • Scotland: First **
  • Wales: Year 3
  • N. Ireland: P4Maths ThinkIt

Maths

Rally Times – Find out who won the race, by putting the times taken for each rally team to complete the race, in order.

  • England: Year 5
  • Scotland: Second *
  • Wales: Year 5
  • N. Ireland: P6

Science

The Path of Light – How will the light travel when Manu switches the torch on? What will happen when it hits the mirror?

  • England: Year 6
  • Scotland: Second **
  • Wales: Year 6
  • N. Ireland: P7

Want to see what the ThinkIts are all about? Log in to EducationCity or take a free trial if your school doesn’t have a subscription.